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Getty Image / Mike Coppola
The NFL is the most valuable sports league in the world, and probably the top cultural institution in the USA right now. Millions of people buy NFL Sunday Ticket, the add-on that allows fans to watch out-of-market games on Sundays, every year.
But, an antitrust lawsuit that is set to go to trial next month claims that the way the NFL and its partners, formerly DirecTV and now YouTube, structure NFL Sunday Ticket is a violation of antitrust law.
Tyler Webb, cohost of the podcast Pocket Presence with former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert, laid out the case in a viral Twitter thread on Wednesday. Here’s the meat of his thread.
DEVELOPING: Over 2.4 million football fans who subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket could be eligible to receive over $6 billion in damages (~$2500 each).
This is part of an antitrust case brought against the #NFL and DirecTV back in 2015.
Let's break it down 👇
🧵1/8 pic.twitter.com/g5XTXgRkvm
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) May 29, 2024
Background: This lawsuit alleges that the "exclusive packaging of teams' out-of-market rights in NFL Sunday Ticket violates U.S. antitrust law and creates artificially high prices."
(Per @FOS)
2/8 pic.twitter.com/Xq4iZqOqyN
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) May 29, 2024
Put simply:
Teams should be allowed to individually sell the rights to their out-of-market games to reduce the cost to their fans.
That way, fans can just pay to watch their favorite team instead of the whole league.
This is the same model teams in the NBA and MLB use.
3/8 pic.twitter.com/EMzFwW9nB7
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) May 29, 2024
Starting June 5, league officials including:
∙ Roger Goodell
∙ Jerry Jones
∙ Robert KraftWill testify in the case, which could finally be ruled on this year. But who else is involved?
4/8 pic.twitter.com/eDJOQnQGuc
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) May 29, 2024
He claims that a verdict for the plaintiffs could cost the NFL $6.1 billion, good for nearly $2500 per subscriber! Webb also notes that the NFL could try to settle prior to that trial start date.
As an NFL Sunday Ticket customer, I can see how a verdict that forced the NFL to make available for purchase the rights for only one team instead of having to buy the entire package would be a big win for consumers. Frankly, I’d say a good percentage of people who buy Sunday Ticket are doing it to watch only one team, their favorite team, when they live out of the local area of their favorite team.
But, it seems to me that the NFL will want to fight tooth and nail to keep all the games bundled together. YouTube purchased the rights to sell NFL Sunday Ticket and Red Zone starting last season after DirecTV, who had the rights since the beginning of Sunday Ticket in 1994, was outbid. I can’t imagine they would be happy with the way the rights are sold fundamentally changing, either.